Smart, a joint venture between Daimler and Geely, has completed internal engineering testing of its first all-electric SUV at the China Automotive Technology Research Center’s Yancheng, Jiangsu test site.
Mercedes-Benz was responsible for the design of the model, while Geely was responsible for the engineering development. The new vehicle will be based on Geely’s SEA architecture, the same as the Zeekr 001.
In the test, the Smart test car showed excellent performance in handling, straight-line acceleration, and emergency braking under highly simulated real-world road conditions and extreme driving situations, according to the company.
Yang Jun, vice president of R&D at Smart, said the R&D team will use the data obtained from the test to continue working on the next phase of overall vehicle performance improvement.
He also said that the work of the Smart R&D team is progressing steadily, thanks to the strong support of both Chinese and German shareholders.
Smart’s new all-electric SUV concept was created by Mercedes-Benz’s global design department and follows the Smart design DNA.
The vehicle also features cloud-based OTA car updates as well as smart keys and voice control.
On May 19, Smart announced the sketch of its new pure electric SUV concept car.
The vehicle will make its world debut at the Munich International Motor Show in September this year, and the production model will be officially launched in 2022.
